


Talk to Me

by Emerald1



Category: The Sentinel
Genre: First Times, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-10
Updated: 2013-05-10
Packaged: 2017-12-11 05:04:52
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,372
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/794234
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Emerald1/pseuds/Emerald1
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Jim sets a trap for Blair and catches himself in it.  Growl !!!<br/>This story is a sequel to Well, not yet. . . . .</p>
            </blockquote>





	Talk to Me

**Author's Note:**

> {indicates thought}
> 
> This is my first slash posting. Tell me what you think.

## Talk to Me

by Emerald

Author's disclaimer: Don't own them. Never have, never will. BooHoo !!! They just needed to get this out of their system, if you get my drift. Don't sue, all I've got are 4 kids and a cat. If you said slash to my kids, they'd go check the tires on my car. the cat wouldn't know what to do with it if he caught it.

* * *

This is the auction story won by Mcvey. It was listed as a first time for both them and me. Not a hearts and flowers type of seduction, because I think they are both too repressed, pig-headed and stubborn for that. This is dedicated to those who care enough to believe they make a difference. Our world will be a truly wonderful place when we all fit in that category. 

**TALK TO ME**

"It's 10:30 and he's going to take a shower. He's going to do _it_ " Jim's hand tightened around the beer he was drinking as he continued muttering to himself. "It's been three days, I don't think I could have waited much longer." It had been months since Ellison admitted to himself that he wanted his partner. Wanted him like 'that'. Months of a constant ache in the center of his body, wanting, waiting wishing. No longer content with his fantasies, the Sentinel had been tracking his quarry, studying his habits, hoping for an intimate glimpse. 

What he got was both better and worse. A pattern had emerged, and now Ellison waited for the tell-tale signs. Sandburg took a shower every morning, regular as clockwork. Every few days however, he took a second one in the evening. It was several weeks before the significance of this to hit home to the Sentinel. 

While standing outside the bathroom door one night, Jim had imagined what it would be like to be washing him. Close to zoning on the sound of soap against skin, he heard another sound. The sound of passion muted against the sound of the running water. Ellison tried to turn away. His roommate had chosen the shower for this intimate act because it afforded him the most privacy in shared quarters. Especially quarters shared with a Sentinel. Blair deserved this privacy and Ellison felt guilty for invading it. It wasn't Sandburg's fault that he had an over-sexed genetic throwback lusting after him, but before Ellison could leave he heard the sounds of completion. Now he was lost, completely hooked. 

When Blair took a night time shower now, a silent shadow stood guard. Sentinel senses captured the sound, but what he waited for now was that one moment when he could smell his Guide's essence before the water carried it down the drain. 

Tonight again he stood sentry in the hall. The soft moans caressed his skin and flamed his soul from behind the bathroom door. He was wanting to be the one who drove the younger man to such passion. Waiting for his partner to walk down the path of passion. Wishing they were on that path together. Settling for the memories to carry with him on his own lonely journey down that path. The moans changed, began to form sounds, then words. Not words, just one word - //Jim// 

{He wants me. He wants ME} The door flew open and two steps brought Jim to the edge of the shower. The shower curtain was yanked open before Blair could react. 

"You're jacking off. I can hear you. I can smell you." 

Fear flashed on the younger man's face as he tried to cover himself with the shower curtain. The older man refused to loosen his grip on it. "Jim, man I'm sorry. I figured in here would be okay. I didn't think it would bother you, that the shower would drown everything out." 

"Well, it does. It bothers me that I can hear you doing it, and smell you doing it, but not see you doing it." 

"Jim? You want to watch me jack off?" The feral look on Ellison's face gave him all the answer he needed. Realization sparked on the younger man's face as the implications hit home. 

Mouth dry, the older man nodded his answer as he took a good look at the source of his fantasies. He swallowed twice before he could speak. "You're so beautiful. . . .so beautiful." 

A shy smile blossomed on Blair's face as he released the shower curtain, letting Jim push it out of the way. His smile grew wider as the older man continued to stare at Blair's naked body with lustful eyes. Beyond the passion and the lust was the need for the Sentinel to be guided. The Guide in Blair knew exactly what to do. Blair ran his fingers down his body, circling his nipples before stopping just above the short wiry hair that surrounded Jim's fantasies. "Is this what you want, Jim? Do you want to see me touch myself? Do you want to watch me come? Hear my moans of pleasure? Smell the scent of my passion? Tell me Jim, does that turn you on?" 

Jim stood perfectly still, staring at the vision in front of him. He was hot, hotter that he had ever been before. If he took a step it would have been over. He hadn't come in his pants since he was 15, and he sure as hell wasn't going to do it now. Finally he whispered, "Yeah, it does." 

Beads of moisture dripped off Blair's chest and arms as he bent down to turn off the water. A few strands of hair clung to his neck, having escaped the tie that kept the rest of his hair dry and out of the way. As Jim stood there transfixed, Blair shook his head and smiled. "Dial it down, Jim. I haven't been able to do this right for a long time, and I want you to last. Are you dialing it down?" 

"What? Oh yeah, dial. I can do that. I can do that, Chief. {Breathe. Why is he getting out of the shower?} Where are you going?" 

"Bed. Much more comfortable that standing up here. Or do you _want_ to see me touch myself in the shower? Is that better for you than my bed?" Blair studied the other man, then smiled. He knew what would turn his Sentinel on. "Wrong bed, Jim? Is that it? Do you want to see me lying on _your_ bed, jacking off in _your_ bed? Do you want to sleep tonight still being able to smell my come?" 

Jim sagged against the bathroom sink, legs suddenly too weak to hold him up. "That's exactly what I want. Now." 

"Okay then, this is what we are going to do. I need about 15 minutes to get ready, then I want you to come up and join me. Do you understand me? 15 minutes, Jim." 

"Yeah, sure. 15 minutes, I got it Chief." Smoky blue eyes met steamy blue eyes as they passed in the small room. The younger man walked out of the bathroom and into his room to gather what he would need to give the older man the show of his life. After three years of lusting for his straight partner, Blair Sandburg was not going to let anything stand in the way of his plans for the older man. 

Ellison listened to his partner as he moved about the small room then quietly went upstairs. Blair was upstairs, in Jim's room, naked. A moan escaped the Sentinel's lips as the scent of his Guide floated down to him. {He is where he belongs.} Exactly 6 minutes after Blair left the bathroom, Jim headed up those same stairs after him. 

"Is your watch fast, Jim? You're 9 minutes early, so sit down somewhere and take a load off." 

With a moan, Jim let his back slide down the wall of the staircase to his room. {Very funny Sandburg, I want to go upstairs so I can 'take a load off'. Preferably several loads and hot ones at that.} 

With a second moan, he reached out with his senses to determine what, exactly, his sexy Guide was up to. A soft and gentle fragrance brushed up against his memories and filled them. It smelled like the jungle after a morning rain: fresh and rich, with an undertone of something exotic. The scents surrounded him as they carried him back to early mornings in the Peruvian jungle. For a moment he was back there, standing under the waterfall. Letting the refreshing water cascade over his naked form, washing away the sweat and grime from the sultry nights. Such wonderful sensory memories left him primed for a zone-out, but the sounds of Blair moving around in the upper loft kept Jim securely anchored. He did not want to lose a moment of _this_ night. 

Time stood still on the stairs for Jim. He had waited forever. The clock showed only 5 minutes had passed since he had been stopped on the stairs. "Blair. . . ." 

The rustling stopped and was replaced by a voice so musical it took Jim's breath away. "Hey, man you're still early, but come on up. I won't make you wait any longer." Blair laughed as he heard his partner bound up the stairs two at a time. His laughter stopped when the saw the raw hunger on the face that appeared at the head of the stairs. 

Ellison stood at the entrance of his room. At least yesterday it had been his room, a cold and spartan place to sleep and change his clothes. Now it was warm and comforting. Candles were the only source of light, placed carefully around the perimeter of the room. The scents that he had noticed earlier were the strongest there too, as Jim realized they were the source. Soft music began to play downstairs, and Jim cocked his head in surprise to listen to the soft jazz. He chuckled as he realized why his friend had insisted on a delay timer when they had purchased the new CD player. It was for seduction. {Wonder how many times he's used that feature?} 

He allowed his attention to be drawn back to the center of the room. The bed, too had been changed. It now was a place of worship, a beautiful body laid out on it as an offering for him. Extra pillows had been brought in to prepare the bed for the coming night, and the younger man was comfortably resting on them. Several pillows were under Blair's knees, raising them slightly, while the rest of the pillows were under his back and head. This gave Jim an unobstructed view of the pleasures that lay before him. A satin sheet had been added, over the pillows. Its rich blue color deepened and shimmered as the shadows and candlelight played on it. As his eyes slowly focusing on what lay on that satin sheet, Jim allowed the vision to burn into his memory. He could live to be 100 years old and never forget this moment. 

Blair looked back at him through half closed eyes. His hair was loose and flowing out over the satin covered pillows Lips became moist as a wet tongue slid over them. Jim's eyes slid slowly down Blair's body. He had rubbed a thin layer of massage oil over his skin, and it gave him a glow in the soft candle lit room. The hair on his chest was thick which Jim already knew, but it became darker and more luxurious as it swirled around his manhood, then thinned out and became finer as it spread over the rest of his body. Every hair glistened like a jewel in the soft light. Jim could feel, in his mind, those soft hairs rubbing against his body, tickling him, teasing him, driving him wild with passion. Helpless to stop it, even if he wanted to, his eyes traveled back to the darkest area of hair. Blair licked his lips again and Jim unconsciously mirrored his actions, never taking his eyes away from the magnificent sight in front of him. If Jim thought that Blair as a whole was beautiful, the vision of his cock was beyond description. Thick and beginning to fill, it rested against his leg. Sentinel vision watched as the large raised veins pulsed softly with the beat of the younger man's heart. 

"I don't think I've ever seen anything more beautiful in my life." 

Blair smiled at the words. "Flattery will get you everywhere, Buddy." 

Jim smiled back at the younger man in his bed. His answer was almost too soft to be heard. "Hope so." His hands began to unconsciously rub against his chest as he watched the object of his fantasies begin to undulate on his bed. 

Blair closed his eyes and tilted his head back. It had been a long time since he had been able to put so much into pleasuring himself, and he wanted to enjoy every minute of it. Doing so in front of the man he wanted and loved made it even more erotic. He slowly and sensuously slipped his fingers into his mouth, one at a time, and sucked each one of them. Each time a finger disappeared into Blair's mouth the image went straight to Jim's groin. After all ten fingers were wet, they began a slow journey over his body. First his neck, as fingertips ghosted across the pulse that the Sentinel could see there. Ever so slowly they traveled down onto his chest. As Jim stared, transfixed, nipples were teased into tight buds. The younger man opened his eyes and stared at his soon-to-be lover as he tugged on the small silver ring half-hidden in his chest hair. Blair arched his back as the pleasure washed over him. Jim sank to his knees on the foot of the bed. 

"Oh yeah, you like that Jim, don't you? Does it make you wonder? What would it be like to do that to me? Imagine it Jim. Your teeth holding my nipple ring, pulling it taut, or would you let your tongue do all the work? Flick it back and forth until I couldn't stand it any longer, and come just from that. I can, you know. Would you like to try that some time?" 

A low moan was all that Jim was capable of at the moment. {Yeah, any time, any place Chief. Have tongue, will travel.} He didn't blink as Blair's hands traveled further down his body. He stifled a moan as the hands bypassed the feast laid out, framed by dark rich hair. Instead, they traveled ever further down and stopped on the inside of his thighs. Blair waited for eye contact. Eventually, Jim's eyes traveled up his body and met his. Blue-gray eyes locked with their younger deeper counterparts, as true feelings finally shone through. 

"Finish it. Let me see you come, Chief. Touch yourself. Touch yourself for me." 

A smile crept on the younger man's face. He began to softly stroke the inside of his legs, starting at the backside of his knees and sweeping upwards past his hips, then circling around his bellybutton before starting the return trip downward. He repeated this, stroke after stroke, his hands just grazing his manhood with every pass. 

"No, touch yourself. Really touch yourself." Jim rubbed the sweat of his face as he continued to stare at those fingers in motion. 

"Hey, I am touching myself. Maybe you should be a little more specific about where. Come on Jim, tell me where I should touch myself. Tell me." Blair arched his body as he spoke, enjoying the gasp that escaped the other's lips. He wanted to hear Jim say the words, to see the look in his eyes as they passed his lips. 

When he finally spoke, his voice was thick and shaking with desire. "Touch your cock, Blair. I want to see you touch your cock. It's so beautiful, I want to see your hands on it." 

Blair allowed one hand to reach for his cock. He slowly stroked around the head with one finger. When a drop of pre-cum oozed out he caught it on his fingertip and spread it around the ridge of his shaft. Jim groaned louder as he focused on the sight. 

"Hey man don't zone out on me now. Stay with me." The voice drew Jim's eyes back up to his Guide's face. "That's it, use all of your senses, don't focus so hard on one." The face that stared at him had 'you've got to be kidding' written all over it, and Blair had to suppress a grin. "Back down a little and feel what your other senses are telling you. Think we've established sight already." Even Jim had to smile at that. "So let's try smell. Can you smell my arousal? My pheromones? It's all for you, you know." He waited to let the Sentinel continue his exploration. "What else, Jim? Can you hear the sound of skin sliding on skin? Does it sound different where the skin is wet with my lube? Can you hear my heart and breathing, are they faster? The thought of turning you on, turns me on. Can you tell?" 

Jim nodded mutely. He was on his knees on the foot of his bed, still in his clothes, hands on his thighs, and he was hotter than he had ever been in his 

life. Not even the moment of climax had ever been anywhere near this. He forced his attention back to the voice leading him down this path. "Yeah Chief, talk to me. Just keep talking to me." 

"What about touch, Jim?" 

"Oh yeah." He reached forward. 

"No. Not like that, not yet. Let my passion touch you. Can you feel it? Can you feel the heat off my body? What part of me is warmer?" Blair continued to run one fingertip around the head of his shaft and the other one began to play in the thick hair that surrounded it. 

Jim let his head roll back and the sensations wash over him. "You're right. I can tell the difference. Your . . . .your cock is warmer, and so are your balls. They are so hot." 

"That leaves taste. Breathe through your mouth Jim. Let your sense of taste pick up my arousal. Can you do that? Can you taste it?" 

"Yes, I can taste it. I can taste your arousal." He stared at the younger man, "I can taste mine, too." 

"That's good, that's very good. Now use all of your senses to enjoy this. I want to know that your pleasure is complete." 

{Any more complete and I'll spontaneously combust.} Okay, all my senses. I can do that. Yeah, I can do that." 

"Still with me?" 

As desire burned through uncertainty, Jim's voice became stronger. "Stroke yourself. I want to see you stroke your cock." 

Blair's hand slid completely around the base of his shaft and began a slow pumping action. "Like this, Jim? Is this what you want to see?" His other hand slid down, capturing his testicles. He rolled them together in his hand. "What about this? They're heavy, Jim. They've never been this heavy, so full. This is what you do to me. Do I do that to you? Does seeing me fill your body with desire and lust? Does it make you want to have me?" 

Almost beyond the ability to speak, the bigger man just nodded his head. His fingers were like claws, gripping his knees, nails almost tearing through the denim that covered them. Blair studied him and realized that the focus of his stare was not his cock, nor his sack, but was further down. He smiled inwardly at this new development. 

"Maybe you'd like this even better." With no other warning he slid his hand off his testicles and down onto the sensitive skin between them and the pucker of his ass. The gasp and loud moan told him that his guess was right. "Yeah, that's what you like all right." 

"Blair. Has. Anyone. Ever. . . ." He gasped as the sensations threatened to overwhelm him. 

The younger man thought for a minute. He knew exactly what was being asked, but he wanted the words. "Has anyone ever what, Jim?" He turned his deep blue eyes up at the man he had wanted for so long. 

The answer was so quiet, he barely heard it. "Fucked you. Has another man ever fucked you?" His eyes locked on Blair's, not only needing to hear the answer, but to see it. 

"No. No one ever has. I don't want to be fucked, Jim. It's too intimate, too personal for that. I've waited. Someday, someone will want to make love to me. I want that first time to be with him. With someone who cares enough about me to understand the difference. 

{I understand the difference.} Jim nodded very slowly as the other man began to lose himself in the sensations. "Come for me. Let it happen." 

Deep blue eyes slowly refocused. "Where?" 

"What?" 

"Where do you want me to come? Do you want to see me catch it in my hand? Do you want me to. . . . " 

"On me. I want you to come on me." Buttons flew and Jim's shirt hit the floor before the words were finished. He leaned over his partner and whispered, "I want your hot come all over my body. I want to feel it dripping down my chest. Now baby, give it to me now." 

Those words coming from that mouth were enough to drive him over the edge. His body arched, nothing but his feet and shoulders touched the bed as he frantically pumped towards his completion. "JIM. . . OOOOOOHHHHH. . . JIM" After an eternity, he fell back onto the bed, thoroughly sated. 

When the first stream of semen seared across his chest, Jim let his head fall back with a yell of his own. The passion threatened to overtake him and he dialed down his sense of touch to make it last. After the last wave hit him, he sat back on his heels and began to absently rub it into his chest. A soft and contented voice reached him from the head of the bed. "Yes, Jim. That's it, rub my come on yourself. Feel it glide over your nipples. Do you like that? Is it hot against your skin?" Jim's hands began a slow circle around each nipple, stopping occasionally to tug at one. "That's it Jim, touch yourself now. So wet and slick, feels like a tongue against you, doesn't it? Do you like to imagine that? My tongue working on your chest. Feel it in your mind. My tongue on your nipples, lapping around and around." 

"Need to. . . . " 

"Take off your pants Jim. Take them off and let me see your body. Are you hot? Did I make you hot? Did watching me turn you on?" 

"You know it did." 

"Then show me, let me see your magnificent body." 

Stumbling to his feet, the bigger man slid off the too tight jeans and boxers. He kicked them away and wrapped his strong hands around his throbbing cock. "Look at what you did to me Blair. Tell me what to do about it." There was no mistaking the renewed gleam in his eye. "Tell me how to pleasure myself." 

Blair raised up and supported himself on his elbows. "First, we are going to slow it down, make it last." 

"No, want it now." 

"Do what you're told, Jim. Dial it down if you need to, but we're going to make this last a very long time." 

The answer was in his head but he couldn't make his mouth work, so Jim just nodded. 

"Okay, we're going to start slow, give you a chance to regain control a little bit. Just use one hand and pinch you nipple. That's it, roll it between your fingers. Is it slick with my come? Can you feel the warmth still? 

"Uh uh. . . ." 

"Now take your other hand and as much of my come as you can get and spread it on your cock. That's it, stroke my juices all over your shaft. Around the head. That's it babe, yeah. Do you like that? Oh yeah, you really do, I can tell." Blair watched as the first drops of pre-come began to seep out of the hard flesh in the other man's hand. "Oh Jim, you are getting excited. Now spread that on yourself too. Just use one finger, circle it around the tip. Yes, just like that. Now taste that finger. Can you tell the difference? Can you taste us both? That's it, Jim, suck on your finger, slide it in your mouth and taste what you do to me, what I do to you." 

Blair sat up the rest of the way, watching that finger slide in and out of his lover's mouth, imagining that was his cock sliding in and out of Jim's mouth. Imagining that face nestled between his thighs, looking up at him with love and passion. He'd buried those feelings long ago, now they were being brought to the surface. He loved his partner and maybe, just maybe, those feelings were being returned. A deep throaty groan brought his attention back to the scene in front of him. 

"Please baby, I want to come. Tell me where you want me to come." 

Blue locked with blue as the two new lovers stared at one another, both knowing that they were on the brink of something bigger that they had ever been before. Jim's lighter blue eyes were unsure, questioning how far he would be allowed to take this, while the deeper blue eyes of his lover were reveling in the joy of being given what his heart had waited so long for. 

"In me, babe. I want you to come inside me." He leaned back and reached for a packet of lube and condom that he had hidden in the folds of the sheet. "Jim, have you ever. . . ." 

"Yeah, I've fucked a few guys before." He smiled, Blair could never remember seeing such a gentleness on Jim's face before. "But I've never made love to one before. Not before you." He took the lube from Blair's hand and began to coat his fingers with it. Slowly, carefully he slid one finger in, then two. He worked the fingers for a few more minutes, back and forth, stretching and preparing before he began sliding them in and out. the younger man underneath him began to moan and hump his fingers. A rhythm began, three strokes in and out, then a slight twist to brush against the prostate. Again and again, until the cock just inches from his face was as hard and straining as his own. He withdrew and found the condom package that had fallen from Blair's hand. As the younger man protested the lack of activity, he quickly opened it and rolled the rubber sheath onto his cock. The two fingers returned to their action and then were joined by a third, stretching and preparing him. 

"Are you ready?" 

"More than ready, Jim. Make love to me. I want to be so full of your love that I feel it all week. Make me yours. It's going to be so hot and so tight and so good for both of us. Come on lover," his voice thickened and deepened. "Take me now." 

"Promise me something?" 

"Anything, Jim. Just ask." 

"I don't want to hurt you. Promise me that you'll tell me if . . . ." 

"Jim, I know you won't hurt me." 

"If you looked back on our first time together as something that hurt you. . . . I don't think I could bear that." He slowly began to back off the bed until Blair caught his hand. 

"Listen to me, babe. with your senses, you'll know if I'm in pain. Heck, you'll probably know before me, and change what you're doing. I know that I couldn't have a more gentle, caring lover than you." He pulled Jim back down on him. "Make love to me." 

Jim blinked back the moisture that threatened his vision. Never before had he shared his bed with someone who trusted him so implicitly. In the deep blue eyes beneath him, he finally saw the difference between a bed partner and a life partner. {You are my only _true_ lover, Blair Sandburg.} 

"Roll onto your stomach, Blair. It will be more comfortable for the first time." 

"No. I want to see your eyes when you come inside me." The look of trust never wavered from Blair's face. 

Jim could feel his resolve crumble away. If the truth were ever told, he could not deny Blair anything. "Okay, then let's raise you up. Roll over so I can move these pillows." With Blair rolled to the side, Jim was easily able to arrange the bedding. AS the younger man rolled back over, Jim grasped Blair's hips and positioned him over the mound of pillows. 

A growl, and Blair felt himself filled and stretched further than he had ever imagined. Jim sunk to the hilt, feeling a hot column of flesh against his stomach. He stilled, giving Blair time to let his body adjust. As he relaxed, Blair wrapped his legs around Jim's waist. He smiled and gently nodded his readiness. As they began to pump their bodies together to the primitive rhythm in their heads, Jim's moans became louder and Blair's words became less coherent. The sound of flesh against flesh could be heard throughout the loft until Jim threw his head back in a silent scream. Wave after wave of wet pleasure filled the younger man under him and his own not so silent cries of completion echoed through-out the loft. 

Exhausted and completely sated, the Sentinel sunk onto the bed next to his Guide, his mate. Everything was right in his world, he thought sleepily as he reached for the shirt he had tossed on the floor earlier. After cleaning himself up and disposing of the condom, he wiped away the fresh puddle on the other's stomach. Satisfied that they wouldn't stick together, he settled onto the bed to sleep. 

As Jim closed his eyes, he felt the bed shift beside him. He opened his eyes to see his partner, no - his lover, sitting on the edge of the bed as if to get up. "Blair, where are you going?" 

"Downstairs, man. I kinda thought you'd want to get some sleep." 

"I do want to sleep. What I want to know is why you think that you need to leave our bed to let me do that?" 

"Everything happened so fast." 

"Sssssooooo?" Already the doubts were starting to form. 

"I don't know what went through your mind tonight when all this started, but I've been waiting for you for so long. If. . . . if in the morning, you start to regret this. . . .Well, it would be hard enough to see you come down the stairs and tell me that it was a mistake. If I wake up in the morning and the first thing I see is the regret in your eyes. . . .I couldn't take it. I just couldn't. I think it would be better if I just went back downstairs." 

As he made to again slide off the bed, Jim grabbed his arm and hung on. "Blair, baby, listen to me. "Don't go. Please Blair, don't leave. We know that I'm not the one for talking, that words are your forte`, not mine. No regrets. Not now, not ever." He wrapped his arms around the other man and held on tight, pressing his forehead against Blair's back. I need you, I always have. I've wanted you for so long. I'll never stop wanting you, loving you. The morning that you see something different will never come." He pulled Blair's compact body back into the bed and spooned up behind him. 

"I love you." Two voices, one mind as they shared the moment. Then Jim pulled him around and their lips touched for a brief moment before they slipped, together, into sleep. 

End 


End file.
